«Click. The bullet was engaged. / The wild candle settled down. / Oh how sorely he had aged. / How long all this had gone on. Frontiers of old age fell as / he remembered far off days — / his old regimental colours / all the glitter, all the noise. Old age brings no happiness. / He ...»
«Fifteen boys — maybe more / maybe less than fifteen / with frightened voices / said to me: / "Let's go to the cinema or the museum of Fine arts." / I answered them more or less as follows: / "I haven’t got the time." / Fifteen boys gave me snowdrops / Fifteen boys with broken voi...»
«What makes me different / from the woman with flowers / the girl who laughs and wears / a ring she will resent ? — Four papered walls where / I return to. feel at home in. / The woman with an ermine / looks away haughtily. Poor her. She looks away. / What if I scare her off / whe...»
«Don’t blame it on Johnny Morozov — / you see, it's not really his fault. / That girl turned his head, bit his nose off — / poor him, it’s not really his fault. He went to the circus in Norwood / and fell for a girl in the ring. / He might have found someone straightforward / but...»